Brothers of Lothric
by MarkMidnight
Summary: Two brothers born in Lothric, marked with a tattoo of the Warrior of Sunlight emblem over their left eye, one was told to end the Age of Fire by stopping the Ashen one, the other to restore it by keeping the Ashen one safe and so this is the tale of Rodarich & Eldarich. My first story I've ever made, may change over time.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

 **The Awakening**

A bell tolls in the distance, a Knight peers over the edge of the high walls toward the Firelink Shrine, he dawned his Tricorne hat atop his silver mask and began down the stairs of the high walls, it was time.

The Knight gives a faint cough as he trudges through the ash filled graveyard, ash kicked up with every step getting in every crevice of his burnt heavy armour, it weighs him down yet the weight barely bothers him. The dark twisted trees with their roots wrapped tight around the gravestones cast shadows across the area, the Knight stumbles through the gravestones piled atop each other, he hears odd raspy breathing, feeling edgy the Knight draws his greataxe from the loop on his belt, a hollow barely able to stand wobbles toward the knight from a nearby coffin, the hollow stands for a moment in silence, twitching, then lets out a high-pitched piercing shriek and charges staggering from side to side with a dagger drawn at the ready, at the last second the Knight steps to the side and trips the hollow, its face plows into the ash, he walks behind the hollow and sticks his axe deep into its spine, a slight moan is let out before the hollows body turns slowly to ash leaving nothing but broken bones and the black cloth it was wearing remaining. He persists on till he comes to a small hill, a lit bonfire crackles atop the hill, the knight kneels beside the bonfire, he eyeballs the footprints in the ash leading from the bonfire, they are all the same but lead in one direction , "Ashen one must have died multiple times from this point," the Knight thought, "the tracks are fresh, the Ashen One must be close."

Down the hill from the bonfire is a large archway filled with a wall of fog, the Knight observes a woman, in light cloth-like armour, pacing back and forth infront of the wall of fog, looking through a satchel on her hip, bodys of hollows lay around her feet, after a few moments of preparing herself she puts her hand against the wall of fog and push's herself through it, the Knight sprints down, he try's to grab her arm before it goes through but the fog feels like a wall pushing him back. He sits outside the fog wall listening to the battle inside, grunting, shouting, screaming, stabbing, suddenly silence, he persists on till he comes to a small hill, a lit bonfire crackles atop the hill, the knight kneels beside the bonfire, he eyeballs the footprints in the ash leading from the bonfire, they are all the same but lead in one direction , "Ashen one must have died multiple times from this point," the Knight thought, "the tracks are fresh, the Ashen One must be...I've done this already." the Knight jumps up from the ground and sprints down to the fog wall, "Wai-Wait," the Knight shouts, "I can help!", the woman frightened by the sudden voice she draws her dagger, the Knight puts his axe back onto his belt, "I am of Lothric, I simply wish to help you." she paces for a moment with her dagger still pointed at him, ready to defend herself, Rodarich stands for a moment in silence, "I know you can't trust me, but please I just want to help." She thinks for a moment, tapping her foot, she then waves him over, Rodarich grabs her arm and puts his hand against the wall of fog along beside hers.

They pass through the wall to the sight of a large statue like man with a giant halberd, Rodarich takes his axe back out of the loop on his belt, the Ashen one charges at the statue of a man, her dagger prepared to cut deep into his thick armour, Rodarich tackles her to the ground as the halberd passes just over their heads, Rodarich hugs the Ashen one tightly as he rolls out of the way of a downward slash, the statue backs off as Rodarich and the Ashen one stand up from the ground, the statue jumps high into the air and comes down toward Rodarich, the giant statue misses and the halberd gets stuck in the ground for a moment, knocking Rodarich to the ground from just the shockwave created by the force, Ashen one climes up the statues back and begins to stab him as many times as possible with her small dagger straight into his wound from the coiled sword, the statue shrugs the Ashen one off his back, with one strong tug he pulls his halberd out of the ground, the fight continues, they struggle for a moment, until Rodarich takes one hard swing at a gap in the statues armour, a critical blow it was as the statue is brought down on a knee, Rodarich's left hand starts a small flame within the palm, Rodarich charges the flame for a second then grabs the statue by the neck, an ancient flame shoots through the statue, it kneels for a moment then with a loud thump falls on its side, the Ashen one stands and stares with disbelief that Iudex Gundyr could be taken down with a single small flame, Rodarich collapses from all of his energy being used in the flame, Iudex Gundyr's body begins to twitch as a large black snake-like creature begins to pour out of the wound where the coiled sword was, the Ashen one throws knifes at the creature that is slowly staggering toward her, "Fire." Rodarich grunts,"Use fire." the Ashen one takes out small brown handmade bombs from her satchel, she lights and tosses one at the hulking monster, it gives out a loud, harsh, piercing cry, as it flails around, its body burning to a crisp, Ashen one lights and tosses another, the creature stumbles toward the cliffs edge, the Ashen one runs toward it and gives it a firm kick to what remains of the body, it falls off the cliff, but as it goes it uses its large black abysmal hand to deliver a fierce swipe at the Ashen one, she goes flying back hitting a dirt bank, Rodarich stumbles over to the Ashen one's unconscious body and puts her on his shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

 **Fingers of Rosaria**

"Rosaria, after Leonhard's death I tried to hunt down Rodarich," the Wizard pleaded, "but he is a master of disguise and can be anywhere at anytime!" Whispers echo through the room, slowly getting louder. "Oh yes, I see, capture, bring upon the Age of Dark, it will be done, if he doesn't get in the way."

"Ashen one, drink you will need your strength." the Ashen one awakens to the Fire Keeper and Rodarich sitting beside her. The hard cold stone lie beneath her, the Fire Keeper holds a strange flask full of a glowing yellow liquid. "Welcome to the bonfire, Unkindled One. I am a Fire Keeper, I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. The Lords have left their thrones, and must be deliver'd to them, to this end, I am at thy side." Ashen one looks at the deep claw marks across her abdomen as they slowly heal away, Rodarich hands Ashen one the flask from the Fire Keeper and the coiled sword. "Estus flasks, most potent healing for the undead," Rodarich proclaims, "keep Estus flasks always by your side." Ashen one rises from the floor with slight discomfort from her ribs, she puts the flask delicately into her satchel. "You should be off soon to the high walls of Lothric," Rodarich insists, "and sorry I can not go with you, but do not fret Ash, I will be watching over you." Ash bows to Rodarich. As Rodarich leaves the Firelink Shrine he watchs Ash stick the coiled sword into the bonfire.

Rodarich walks through the decaying ruins of the Undead Settlement, with every gust of the wind a disgusting rotten smell is blown through the surprisingly empty streets. A loud thump comes from above, startled Rodarich stops and looks up at the rooftops, he quickly equips his axe, he listens closely to the sounds above, a blue light appears in his hand, he waves it over himself. A hooded man with leather armour jumps down from above, looking around in every direction, he leans against a wooden crate utterly bewildered, the hooded man shrugs and climes back up onto the roof. After a few minutes Rodarich un-transform's from a box, "Assassin's, so this is what the new Ringfinger of Rosaria has to offer," Rodarich whispers to himself, "I think it's about time I pay a visit to my brother."

After a bit of traveling Rodarich arrives at the Cathedral of the Deep, Rodarich approaches a chapel, he tugs on the large doors that do not budge for they are locked, he looks around for another entrance, he sees some graves that go up around the chapel so he goes through them, as he walks through the silent graves the smell of rot overcomes his senses. He continues onward to a white birch tree with multiple hollows wandering around it, Rodarich ready's his axe and moves in to attack until a giant arrow falls from the sky, the shock-wave from the arrow hitting the ground sends the hollow's flying, even Rodarich stumbles for a moment before getting behind cover and looking for where it came from, far in the distance he can see the smallest figure standing on a tall stone tower, Rodarich takes a running jump and waves his hand over himself, as a barrel he rolls past the white birch, stopping only when he hits against some stairs, he un-cloaks, dusts himself off and heads up into the Cathedral.

Wandering through the confusing twists and turns of the Cathedral, screams of tortured hollows echo through the halls, Rodarich watchs as a Grave Warden patrols a dineing room, sneaking through the shadows, he manages to get behind it, useing his axe, he does a swift chop at its neck, with its teeth still chattering the Grave Wardens head falls to the floor. Rodarich strips the Grave Warden of its rotting decrepit clothes and put's them over his armour, he takes off the tricorne hat stuffing it into his chestplate before putting the the hood atop his head. The sharp twin blades drag across the ground as Rodarich stumbles past unaware hollows, Rodarich stops and watch's as an albino man with blood red eyes strolls down the hall toward him, Rodarich stares at the mans tattoo of the Warrior of Sunlight emblem over his left eye before he snaps out of it and quickly turns away, after watching the man walk past him Rodarich begins to trail him.

Rodarich follows the man down a long corridor, until a knife at his throat stops him, the albino man turns toward Rodarich. "Dear Brother, you didn't think I would recognize you especially with Leonhard's mask on?" Eldarich teases, "You must not be as skilled in disguise as I thought!" Rodarich stays silent, he stares Eldarich in the eyes. "Well, we can't have you getting in the way of the Age of Dark, off to Ithryll, the Jailers can deal with you."


End file.
